Date: Sunday July 15, 2007.
Location: Gravenhurst, Ontario
Description: 750m swim, 20 km Bike, 5 km Run
Sport: Triathlon
Website: www.multisportcanada.com
Gravenhurst, the second time around:
This year’s Gravenhurst Sprint Triathlon is my one year anniversary. It is the very same Triathlon I chose to dip my foot into the water for the first time. I could not have chosen a better one than Gravenhurst. Last year, shortly after I had registered, a news bulletin on the Multisport website announced that the Sprint Triathlon was going to start from one of the steamships normally used for sightseeing tours around
Lake Muskoka. Wow, I’ve never done a Triathlon and they want me to do the “Escape of Alcatraz”. I can tell you, I was just a bit scared, well, naturally not scared (big boys do not get scared), but somewhat concerned. Jumping from the deck of a steamship at the blast of its whistle with hundreds of other competitors all jumping at the same time, I was sure, was going to end at the bottom of Muskoka Bay.
Well, needless to say, it did not happen that way, since I’m still here to tell you the story about this year’s Gravenhurst Sprint Triathlon.
Two days before the event, according to the weather forecast, the weekend weather was going to be perfect, some clouds on Saturday and nothing but bright sunshine for Sunday. The perfectly laid-out plan called for; Drive to Gravenhurst Saturday morning, check-in at the Eden B&B, which I booked last minute, around lunch time, then go and check out the venue and maybe have time for swim in the lake. Good plan if you consider that it was based on information gathered on “Friday the 13th “!The drive up Hwy 404 and eventually Hwy 400 started out just fine with a little bit of a slowdown close to
Barrie. As soon I turned onto Hwy 11 things started to change, only a bit of a drizzle at first, gradually changing to a steady rain and shortly before Gravenhurst it became a downpour. So much for the plan of checking out the venue and it wasn’t exactly inviting to jump into the lake either. The only thing left to do was to have a bite to eat and hope that the weather was going to clear up for Sunday.
Sunday morning didn’t start out much better as I woke up to the steady sound of a nice heavy rain, good for the garden but not so nice for a fast 20km bike ride. Thankfully the rain stopped soon after, and it looked like it was going to be a nice day after all.
Swim
Now that I had survived the jump from the steamship once before, I knew there was nothing to worry about and actually the swim did not start from the ship, it only took us out to the starting area where we jumped off and swam to the line where the race started at the sound of the steam whistle. From then on it was a straight swim up to the beach, up the stairs onto the docks and across the street to the transition. My T 1 this year was a big improvement over last year’s, everything nicely laid out in proper order and nothing fumbled.
Bike
While the wind was a welcome push during the swim, it proved to be a bit of a hand full for the first leg of the bike ride. I always find the “out” part of the leg much harder anyway than the way back, even without the wind in my face. Otherwise the weather held up just as promised on Friday the 13th. All in all, my bike section went quite well, passing a number of younger riders that had started out in waves ahead of me. Next thing I have to learn is how to get out of my cycling shoes before coming to the “Dismount” line and maybe shave another few seconds off my T2 time. Otherwise the new “no socks” policy I have now adopted for the running shoes is working fine and no blisters this time.
Run
I felt stiff and winded at the beginning of the running section so I slowed down for a few steps to consume an extra GU Espresso Love and water. It also helped a lot to find out that the road, which last year was still gravel, had been freshly paved over. Once I turned the corner at the half way mark, my legs finally started to feel good with no more slowing down until the finish.
Even the second time around, Gravenhurst is still a very interesting and definitely well organized event, somewhat different with the start from the steamship, making it a unique point-to-point swim. No corners to get bumped or squeezed, just straight 750m to shore. For the idea and the covering of the cost for the Steamships, the Wenonah II and Segwun, we have to thank the Owner/Pharmacist of the local Pharmasave store, Steve Vandermolen, himself a great Triathlete and local organizer of the event. I definitely enjoyed coming back to this event, I had a great race and to top it off, I made to the top of the podium in my age group. Yehhh again!
Peter Geering
